Acts 2:27 kjv
Because thou wilt not leave my soul in hell, neither wilt thou suffer thine Holy One to see corruption.
Acts 2:27 nkjv
For You will not leave my soul in Hades, Nor will You allow Your Holy One to see corruption.
Acts 2:27 niv
because you will not abandon me to the realm of the dead, you will not let your holy one see decay.
Acts 2:27 esv
For you will not abandon my soul to Hades, or let your Holy One see corruption.
Acts 2:27 nlt
For you will not leave my soul among the dead
or allow your Holy One to rot in the grave.
Acts 2 27 Cross References
| Verse | Text | Reference |
|---|---|---|
| Psa 16:10 | "For thou wilt not leave my soul in hell; neither wilt thou suffer..." | Original prophecy cited by Peter. |
| Acts 13:35 | "Wherefore he saith also in another psalm, Thou shalt not suffer..." | Paul uses the same Psalm to prove Christ's resurrection. |
| Rom 8:11 | "But if the Spirit of him that raised up Jesus from the dead..." | God's Spirit is the power behind resurrection. |
| 1 Cor 15:3-4 | "Christ died for our sins... and that he was buried, and that he rose..." | Core of the gospel includes Christ's bodily resurrection. |
| Eph 1:19-20 | "And what is the exceeding greatness of his power... when he raised him..." | God's immeasurable power in raising Christ. |
| Col 2:12 | "Buried with him in baptism, wherein also ye are risen with him..." | Believers' spiritual resurrection tied to Christ's. |
| Heb 13:20 | "Now the God of peace, that brought again from the dead our Lord Jesus..." | God as the one who raised Jesus. |
| Hos 13:14 | "I will ransom them from the power of the grave; I will redeem them..." | Prophetic promise of victory over death and grave. |
| 1 Cor 15:54-57 | "O death, where is thy sting? O grave, where is thy victory?" | Christ's resurrection brings victory over death. |
| Rev 1:18 | "I am he that liveth, and was dead; and, behold, I am alive forevermore..." | Christ holds the keys of death and Hades. |
| Heb 2:14 | "That through death he might destroy him that had the power of death..." | Christ's death conquers the devil's power. |
| Heb 4:15 | "For we have not an high priest which cannot be touched with... but was..." | Christ's sinlessness, enabling His resurrection without decay. |
| 1 Pet 1:19 | "But with the precious blood of Christ, as of a lamb without blemish..." | Christ as the unblemished sacrificial lamb. |
| 2 Pet 1:22 | "Who did no sin, neither was guile found in his mouth..." | Christ's perfect righteousness. |
| 1 Jn 3:5 | "And ye know that he was manifested to take away our sins; and in him is..." | Christ's purpose was sin removal, hence sinless nature. |
| Lk 16:23 | "And in hell he lift up his eyes, being in torments, and seeth..." | Hades as the general abode of the dead, sometimes with compartments. |
| Rev 20:13-14 | "And death and hell delivered up the dead which were in them..." | Hades and Death are cast into the lake of fire at final judgment. |
| Deut 32:39 | "I kill, and I make alive; I wound, and I heal: neither is there any..." | God's ultimate sovereignty over life and death. |
| 1 Sam 2:6 | "The LORD killeth, and maketh alive: he bringeth down to the grave..." | God's power extends over the grave. |
| Job 17:16 | "They shall go down to the bars of the pit, when our rest together..." | Human expectation of physical decay after death. |
| Acts 2:30-31 | "Therefore being a prophet... he spake of the resurrection of Christ..." | Peter directly interprets David's prophecy. |
| Lk 24:3-7 | "And they entered in, and found not the body of the Lord Jesus... saying..." | The empty tomb as evidence of no corruption. |
Acts 2 verses
Acts 2 27 Meaning
Acts 2:27 is a prophetic declaration, quoted by Peter from Psalm 16:10, asserting that God would not abandon the soul of His Holy One to Hades (the realm of the dead) nor permit His body to experience decay or corruption. This verse is central to Peter's Pentecost sermon, demonstrating that the prophecy could only refer to the resurrected Jesus Christ, as David, the original author, experienced death and decay.
Acts 2 27 Context
Acts 2:27 is part of Peter's pivotal sermon on the day of Pentecost, following the outpouring of the Holy Spirit. After witnesses are perplexed by the disciples speaking in tongues, Peter rises to explain the events by referring to the prophecy of Joel and then centers his message on the resurrection of Jesus Christ. He connects the present miraculous events to the exaltation of Jesus, whom God raised from the dead. Specifically, he uses Psalm 16, a revered Old Testament text attributed to David, to prove that the Messiah must rise from the dead without experiencing bodily decay. Peter argues that David, despite being a prophet and foreseeing this, clearly died and saw corruption. Therefore, the Psalm must refer to someone else – the Messiah, Jesus of Nazareth – who was delivered from death and Hades without His body decaying, thus fulfilling the prophecy perfectly. The immediate historical context is post-resurrection, post-ascension, and Pentecost, aimed at convincing the Jewish audience in Jerusalem that Jesus is the long-awaited Messiah. This was a direct challenge to the common understanding that all dead bodies eventually decay and that the Messiah might simply be a powerful king rather than one who overcomes death itself.
Acts 2 27 Word analysis
- "because": Dioti (διότι). Introduces the reason or ground for the preceding statement (Acts 2:24, God raised Him, loosing the pains of death).
- "thou wilt not": A strong negation (οὐκ + verb in future tense). Emphasizes certainty and divine resolve. This is God's fixed purpose.
- "leave": Egkataleipō (ἐγκαταλείπω). To leave behind, forsake, abandon. Implies permanent abandonment. The double negative means God will definitively not abandon.
- "my soul": Psychē (ψυχή). Refers to the life-principle, the self, the person. Here, in the context of death, it refers to the spiritual component of the person after physical death, in contrast to the body that experiences corruption. It speaks of Jesus' conscious existence in the state of death.
- "in hell": En Hadē (ἐν Ἅδῃ). "Hades" is the Greek equivalent of the Hebrew "Sheol," referring to the realm of the dead, the unseen world where spirits reside after death. It is not necessarily the final place of eternal punishment (Gehenna) but the general abode of the departed. Jesus’s soul went to Hades upon death but did not remain there.
- "neither wilt thou suffer": Ou-de Dōseis (οὐδὲ δώσεις). "Nor will you give/permit." This also carries a strong negative force, signifying that God would absolutely not allow. The concept of God "suffering" or "permitting" implies His sovereign control.
- "thine Holy One": Ton Hosios Sou (τὸν ὅσιόν σου). Hosios (ὅσιος) means holy, pious, righteous, devout, or pure. It implies a moral and ritual blamelessness. In the context of the Messiah, it points to His absolute purity and sinlessness. Jesus is uniquely the Holy One of God (Mk 1:24, Lk 4:34), who perfectly fulfilled divine righteousness, unlike any mere human. His sinlessness is foundational to His ability to conquer death and not decay, as death's ultimate power is linked to sin.
- "to see": Idein (ἰδεῖν). To see, perceive, experience. Here, it means to "experience" or "undergo" the process of.
- "corruption": Diaphthora (διαφθορά). Literal meaning is "decay," "decomposition," "putrefaction," "disintegration." It refers specifically to the physical rotting of a dead body. This is a crucial distinction from Hades. Peter emphasizes that not only would Jesus' soul not be abandoned to the grave, but His body would also not undergo physical decomposition in the tomb, proving His literal, bodily resurrection.
Acts 2 27 Bonus section
The precise use of "Hades" and "corruption" in Acts 2:27 helps distinguish between the state of death (soul in Hades) and the process of decay (body in the grave). Peter’s application of this Psalm establishes a critical pattern of New Testament hermeneutics, where Old Testament prophecies are seen as speaking of Christ in a way that transcends the immediate experience of the original speaker (David). This prophecy, fulfilled in Christ, demonstrates His divine nature, as only one without sin could escape the corruption that is the common lot of humanity after death. The truth of this verse fundamentally supports the doctrine of Christ's triumph over all enemies, securing hope for the resurrection of believers, who, though they experience physical decay, will be raised to new, incorruptible bodies (1 Cor 15:53-54).
Acts 2 27 Commentary
Acts 2:27 stands as a powerful exegetical statement by Peter, asserting the fulfillment of Old Testament prophecy in Jesus Christ's resurrection. The verse precisely articulates two inseparable aspects of Christ's victory over death: His soul's triumph over the realm of the dead (Hades), and His body's triumph over physical decomposition (corruption). The significance lies in the fact that Peter directly attributes Psa 16:10 not to King David, who, despite being a man after God's own heart, undeniably died and whose body underwent natural decay (as attested by his sepulcher still existing among them), but exclusively to Jesus. Jesus's body did not remain in the tomb long enough to suffer corruption, confirming His unique status as "Thine Holy One" – truly sinless, and therefore immune to the natural consequence of death linked to sin (Rom 5:12). This immediate physical absence of decay underscores the reality of Jesus' bodily resurrection, making it not merely a spiritual event but a historical and physical one. It emphasizes God's power and faithfulness to His Messiah, showcasing His victory over the ultimate enemies: sin, death, and the grave. The implications for believers are profound, promising resurrection and transformation (1 Cor 15:42-44), for if Christ was raised, so too shall believers ultimately be.